Chignecto-Central schools make last-chance pitches to stop closures

Parents and teachers representing three rural Nova Scotia schools met with the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board Wednesday night to showcase business plans for keeping the schools open.

The three schools are Maitland District Elementary School, River John Consolidated School and Wentworth Consolidated Elementary School. Each is slated to close unless they can be transformed into hub schools, incorporating many community assets under one roof.

"What we want to do is take the wonderful school we already have and enhance it," said Sheree Fitch, an advocate for River John Consolidated School.

She told the board that a team of volunteers plans to create an educational centre on the main floor of the school, along with an art gallery and café.

"We've got commitments from people like the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia saying, 'We want that art in a rural area,'" said Fitch.

Maitland District Elementary School's proposal included a plan to lease classrooms to local businesses.

Depending on the school's annual operating costs, their proposed hub model would have to generate between $100,000 and $250,000 in annual revenue to meet criteria set out by school board staff.

Unless the school board intervenes and approves the hub models, the plan for next year is to send students to other larger schools. 

For Valerie Suidgeest's seven-year-old daughter, that could mean a 45-minute bus ride to Tatamagouche each morning and the same trip back home after school.

"We all know the Sunrise Trail can be a bit of a mess in the winter," she said. "It all adds up to a lot of time on the bus and not at home."

Board members will now analyse each of the proposals and will vote on each separately at a meeting June 10.